The Vis-a-thon program provides opportunities for participants to collaboratively experiment with new and innovative ways to create and use visual imagery and language.

About Vis-a-thon

Every year, we ask for applications from STEM researchers at all Rhode Island colleges and universities to apply as Vis-a-thon participants. The program allows participants to explore how art-based approaches to visualization can advance their research and reveal new opportunities for connecting with diverse audiences. Participants are not required to be at any specific point in their research process, as the VIS-A-THON collaborative model welcomes research at any stage.

The Vis-a-thon is separated into two parts: The Visualization Intensive and The Vis-a-thon Weekend.

Held the first Friday of March, The Visualization Intensive is a day-long seminar aimed at increasing the visual literacy of participants through workshops, breakout sessions, and lectures where we explore visualization in science as both an analytical tool and communicative effort. Throughout the day, participants work with Vis-a-thon facilitators and RISD faculty to develop visualization projects to be created over a two-day period. At the end of the day, participants submit their project proposals.

The Vis-a-thon facilitators review the proposals and connect the scientists to graduate students at the Rhode Island School of Design. These RISD collaborators come from a variety of disciplines including, Architecture, Digital Media, Sculpture, Glass, and Graphic Design. Each art/science duo works together during the Vis-a-thon Weekend.

The Vis-a-thon Weekend is a 2-day event where collaborative groups work on RISD’s campus to fully realize their proposals. Teams are connected to technicians and studios, along with the materials stipend necessary to complete their projects. An open group critique and project exhibition is held at the end of the weekend.

Throughout the entirety of the program, participants are immersed in hands-on art making; they engage in group critique, and learn an iterative approach to art and design. These skills can be invaluable to researchers, particularly those who are interested in innovative broader impacts, community partnerships, and better science communication. Participants leave the program with both a framework for interdisciplinary collaboration, and a product that is a visualization of their own research.

Vis-a-thon's art-based approach is designed to reimagine visualization as an evolving process of inquiry, indivisible from research itself.

People

STEM researchers at all Rhode Island colleges and universities can apply to become Vis-a-thon participants.

There are three critics total. All critics are RISD faculty members with backgrounds in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work. A critic is a sounding board for participants as they develop their proposals during Visualization Intensive. Critics are there to pull forth good ideas and encourage participants to think in an art and design context. Critics are present for the beginning and end of the Visualization Intensive and the entirety of the Vis-a-thon Weekend.

2021 + 2022 CRITICS

2020 CRITICS

Module Descriptions

The Visualization Intensive is a day-long workshop aimed at increasing the visual literacy of participants through workshops, breakout sessions, and lectures concerning visualization in science as both an analytical tool and communicative effort. Participants, in groups or individually, will develop and propose visualization projects to be created over a two-day period. At the end of the day, each critic selects three projects to support. The proposals then move on to the Vis-a-thon Weekend.

Additional Opportunities

All participants who complete the Vis-a-thon are eligible to submit for a Collaborative Visualization Grant. Participants must submit a proposal that includes a collaborator outside of their own field of research. This grant is intended to help develop projects further, and promote interdisciplinary partnerships. This is a $2,500 grant; $500 goes to each collaborator as a stipend, and the remaining $1,500 supports material, facility and production expenses. The Collaborative Visualization Grant application can be found online.